Building block or tile.



PatentedNov. 20, 1917.

CLARENCE L. HUTCHIssoN, oF MCEILE, ALABAMA.

BUILDING BLOCK 0R TILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2o, 1917.

Application led July 13, 1916. Serial No. 109,096.

To all rwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLARENCE L. I-IUTCH- IssoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mobile, in the county of Mobile, State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Building Blocks or Tiles, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the aocompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to building blocks or tiles used for the construction of walls, and the invention has for its object to provide a building block or tile which will be' simple in construction and readily molded of clay or other plastic material, will be adapted to be easily and rapidly handled to be placed in position in building a wall and will be easily adapted for bonding with standard or other brick or tile.

A further object of the invention is to provide a building block or tile in which there will be no continuous line of solid material at any level and which will be so constructed that in the wall built of it there will be no continuous layer of mortar from the outside of the wall to the inside.

With these and other objects hereinafter set forth, my invention consists in the building block or tile hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a perspectiye view partly broken away of the corner of a wall showing the tile or building block of my invention bonded in with ordinary brick. i

Fig. 2 is a perspective view partly in section of a wall showing two courses made up of (ghe building block or tile of my invention, an

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a building block or tile embodying my invention.

The building block or tile is constructed to have two outer hollow chambers 1 and 2, a central hollow chamber 3 a central recess 4 in the under side and a central projection 5 above the central hollow chamber 3. The outer hollow chambers 1 and 2 may be of any desired form in cross section, being here shown as rectangular, and extend from end to end of the building block or tile parallel with the side faces from which they are separated by side walls 6 and 7 respectively. The central hollow chamber 3 extends from end to end of the building block or tile and is preferably wider at bottom than at top.

At its bottom it is separated from recess 4 by horizontal wall 8. This central hollow chamber 3 extends above the plane of the top surface of the building` block or tile..

formed by the horizontal walls 9 and 10 of the outer hollow chambers 1 and 2. The

formed by the central projection 5. This central projection 5 is preferably rounded ofi' on its upper face and edges, its edges extending somewhat beyond the outer faces of walls 11 and 12 which connect it to the body of the building block or tile and form the upper part of the walls of the central hollowv chamber 3.

Between the outer hollow chambers 1 and 2 and the central hollow chamber 3 are bodies of solid material 13 and 14 extending downward near the outer hollow chambers 1 and 2 to the bottom walls 15".

The bottom recess 4 is somewhat wider and higher than the projection 5 when the block is placed in the wall so that the projection 5 of one'building block or tile is easily received within the recess 4 of the building block or tile above it with suiiicient space between the projection and the walls of the recess to form a substantial air space.

The projection 5 byv reason of its form and the v,extension of its edges beyond the walls 11 and 12 afords'a convenient hand hold for lifting and .placing the building block or tile. The walls 11 and 12 being relatively thin may be readily broken away so as to leave the top faces of the horizontal walls 9 and 10 so that a brick or tile of ordinary shape may be placed upon it as shown in Fig. l.

In building a wall with my building block or tile the lower course being laid as shown in Fig. 2, mortar is spread on the horizontal walls 9 and 10 and the upper building block or tile is placed upon it with the recess 4 over and inclosing the projection 5, the height of projection 5 being such that the necessary layer of mortar will not extend I nuch if at all above the edges of the projection 5. The mortar joint is thus interrupted by the projection 5 and not being continuous the possibility of seepage through the mortar joint is prevented the possibillty of seepage being further guarded against by air space between the projection 5 and the walls of recess 4.

The adaptability of my building block or tile to bonding in with ordinary brick `top of the central hollow chamber 3 is v is shown in Fig. 1. In the construction there shown two walls built of my building block or tile are shown coming together at a right angle with the corner built up of ordinary brick, 16, 17. The building block or tile nearest the corner to the right in the intermediate course has its projection 5 broken away for about half its length so as to leave an unobstructed surface to receive a brick tofrest partly on brick 17 and partly on the top of this building block or tile. In order to set the corner brick of the next higher course the projection 'of the buildin block or tile to the left of the corner is roken away about half its length so as to aEord a plane surface to receive a brick Set with its longest dimension to the left.

The building block ortile is made of clay burnt in the usual way of making brick or of cement. As shown in the drawings it is of the same Width as length the length and width being the same as the length of a standard brick. It may however be made of any other size and its length and width may not be the same. For an ordinary wall having a thickness equal to the length of a standard brick the form 'of building block or tile shown is preferable.

The bottom recess 4 is of such height that the lower face of the horizontal wall be# ytween it and the central hollow chamber 3 is above the plane of the bottom of the outer hollow chambers 1 and 2 and in the wall constructed of these building blocks or tiles as shown in Fig. 2 it will be seen that there is not at any level a continuous body of solid material, either the burnt clay or cement of the building block or tile or the mortar, from the outside of the wall to the inside, the line of 'solid material being interrupted at every level by the air space of the outer hollow chambers or the centralv hollorw chamber or the bottom recess and at most levels is interrupted by two or more of these airspaces.

The building block or tile as shown is adapted to be molded, without diiiiculty, of either clay or cement in single molds or by the continuous molding process and can be readily stacked for burning or drying.

Having thus described my invention what l claim is The herein described building block or' tile having an outer chamber near each side, a central longitudinal recess in its botto-m extending above the planes of the bottoms of the outer chambers, a central longitudinal projection eXtendin above its upper face having its top relatively thick and its side walls relatively thin with the edges of its top extending beyond the side walls to form 

